Reptile - Skull, Dentition, Adaptations | Britannica

reptile

Table of Contents

Introduction
General features
- Importance
- Size range
- Distribution and ecology
  - North temperate zone
  - Central and South America
  - Asia
  - Australia
  - Africa
Natural history
- Life cycle and life history
  - Courtship and fertilization
  - Embryonic development and parental care
- Growth and longevity
Behaviour
- Defense
  - Avoidance and noise
  - Body form and posturing
  - Display of colour
  - Striking and biting
  - Spitting
  - Use of the tail
  - Balling
  - Odours
- Feeding habits
- Locomotion
  - Walking and crawling
  - Clinging and climbing
  - Swimming
  - Flying
Form and function
- External covering
- Internal features
  - Skeletal system
  - Skull and dentition
  - Nervous system
  - Circulatory system
  - Respiratory system
  - Digestive and urogenital systems
- Sense organs
  - Sight
  - Hearing
  - Chemoreception
- Thermal relationships
Evolution and paleontology
- Historical development
- Fossil distribution
Classification
- Distinguishing taxonomic features
- Annotated classification
- Critical appraisal

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The skulls of the several subclasses and orders vary in the ways mentioned below. In addition to differences in openings on the side of the skull and in general shape and size, the most significant variations in reptilian skulls are those affecting movements within the skull. As a group, reptilian skulls differ from those of early amphibians. Reptiles lack an otic notch (an indentation at the rear of the skull) and several small bones at the rear of the skull roof. The skulls of modern reptiles are also sharply set off from those of mammals in many ways, but the ...(100 of 17436 words)

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